REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND CONGRESSMAN KWEISI MFUME
AT THE SWEARING-IN CEREMONY FOR
THE HONORABLE KWEISI MFUME AS
PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE NAACP

Great Hall
Department of Justice

12:38 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Myrlie
Evers-Williams, for your introduction, for your remarks, and most
importantly, for your willingness to take on what appears to be a
thankless and could well have been a no-win situation in seizing the
helm of the NAACP and helping to bring it to this moment of great
celebration and unity. The entire nation is in your debt and we
thank you. (Applause.)

To the distinguished members of Congress, the Mayors who
are here, the clergy, members of the administration; to the young
people who have performed, and the family of Congressman Mfume.
Kweisi told me today before we came out that this is a celebration of
rebirth and renewal. And the Vice President and I were standing
there amidst his -- four of his five strapping young sons; the other
is in school or he would be here, showing that he still has his
priorities in order -- (laughter). He said, this is going to be a
celebration of rebirth and renewal. And so I have given this over to
the young people -- and to Roger Wilkins. (Laughter.)

And I must say, as I heard Jaimie speak, and as I heard
Jason speak for the Arkansas contingent here, and as I heard Ayinde
speak -- by the way, I memorized that poem and I never spoke it half
that well. (Laughter.) And then I heard the Morgan State Choir
sing, I thought this really is about rebirth and renewal and energy
and youth. And I kept cutting my speech shorter and shorter.
(Laughter.)

I just want to make a couple of brief points. This
country does still need the NAACP. Oh, we are here in the Justice
Department today because of what the NAACP has meant to us. When I
was the age of these young people here, I can remember what it was
like, still, to have a church burned in your home state, to have
people intimidated away from pursuing their legal rights.

We are here because of what the NAACP has meant to
America. To me and to Al Gore, growing up as white southerners in
the South -- we love the NAACP. It made us believe that something
good was going to come at the end of the civil rights struggle. It
made us believe that we could all live together and grow together.
But we know today in this age of incredible possibility for our
country, when we have the African American unemployment rate in
single digits for the first time in 20 years, 100,000 new African
American owned businesses -- we know still that more than half our
people are working harder just to keep up.

We know still that, as we glory in these young people
being in college, that the college-going rate is going up, but the
college-going rate among young people who come from the poorest fifth
of our families has leveled off and going down because of the costs.
And we know we must never go back to the days of the black church
bombings, the other terrible acts of racial terrorism.

And so I want to say, too, we need the NAACP today not
only because there are still economic problems and elementary social
divisions. We have to do everything we can to see that we determine
in this Justice Department who created these recent crimes and all of
us stand together against any kind of return to that. (Applause.)

Let me say that as I look across this crowd and I see so
many people -- I don't want to call names, but I want to say just one
thing about our public life. I see Reverend Jackson and Mrs. King
and Dexter and Congressman and Secretary Kemp standing there, sitting
there. One of the men who wanted to replace me in the presidential
election this year had to undergo the agony of having leaflets passed
out against his Asian American wife. That is wrong. We still need
the NAACP, and no party can tolerate that sort of thing. And none of
our people should. We're all the same in this country and we still
haven't learned that yet.

If you look at where we are and where we're going, we
can never create opportunity for all Americans who are willing to
assume the responsibility to seize it unless we determine to go into
the future together. That's what the NAACP must remind us of. That
is the great lesson of America, and unfortunately, not every American
has learned it yet. And until we all learn it and live by it, we
will need to NAACP.

Let me also say that when Kweisi called me to tell me
that he was going to take this job, in the words of the old country
song, I didn't know whether to kill myself or go bowling. (Laughter
and applause.) I had become almost emotionally dependent upon him
being in the Congress -- (laughter) -- supporting me when I needed
it, reprimanding me when I needed it, whether I knew it or not.
(Laughter.) I never have much time for television, but whenever I
channel-surfed and saw him doing his talk show on television, I
always stopped and marveled at how well he related to all those
different kinds of people.

He is a uniquely gifted man, with a personal history
that shimmers with the promise of America and the possibility of
personal renewal and the virtue of never giving up on yourself or
your family or your common possibility.

I can't help but say that in the continuing struggle we
have to rescue our young people, when you see these young people, you
know there is nothing that they cannot do. And when you see so many
others we are losing -- when the crime rate goes down in America, the
juvenile violence rate goes up; when drug use goes down in America
and drug use among juveniles goes up -- you ask yourself, there's got
to be something wrong here when not all of our children don't do this
and don't have these opportunities and don't shimmer with their own
energy and integrity and possibility. That's what Kweisi Mfume will
help to bring to America through the NAACP. (Applause.)

Because he is a Congressman from Maryland and we have so
many of his colleagues here, I think we must also say that a lot our
hearts were broken when those eight young Job Corps trainees from
Maryland perished in the train crash just a few days ago. Like most
of you, I sat there, a helpless citizen, watching it on television,
thinking about all of the promise of those children. But let me
remind you that they were given a chance, and we should remember them
and honor them by determining to give every child who needs a chance
the chance they were given. And that is why we need the NAACP and
why we need Kweisi Mfume to lead it. We should honor that.
(Applause.)

Let me finally say that his constituents have given him
the greatest recommendation possible for this job in what is going on
in the effort to succeed him. (Laughter.) You can tell how good a
person is by whether others want to do what he once did, or she once
did. We had a mayor in my home town once spend his entire term
offering to fix parking tickets in nongrammatical ways. And when he
left office, it took us months to find anyone to run. (Laughter.)

When he announced he was leaving 32 people showed up.
(Laughter.) It's almost impossible to sort out the election process.
It's a great tribute to the standard of public service set by this
Congressman. I am laughing about it; I am dead serious -- 28
Democrats and four Republicans showed up because they know it means
something to represent the American people in the United States
Congress because of the way he represented the people of his
district. (Applause.)

So I say to you, my fellow Americans, as someone who is
in the personal debt of the NAACP, and as your President, we need the
NAACP. I thank every person here who worked here with Myrlie to
bring it back together to this point, to shed the old baggage and to
go forward with a clear mind and a free heart. And I thank my good
friend Congressman Mfume for his willingness to lay down his
political career for even higher public service.

It is a wise choice. It will give us a better future.
And we are all here to celebrate as I ask the Chief Judge of the
United States Court of Appeals, Judge Harry Edwards, to come forward
and administer the oath to the new President and CEO of the NAACP.

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

(The oath is administered.) (Applause.)

CONGRESSMAN MFUME: God is good -- all the time.

President Clinton, Vice President Gore, Attorney General
Reno, Chairwoman Myrlie Evers-Williams, Honorable elected officials,
and in particular, Senator Mikulski, Senator Sarbanes, Congressman
Cardin and Mayor Schmoke. Distinguished members of the clergy,
members of the NAACP board, ladies and gentlemen. It is a high honor
and a distinct privilege to stand before you this morning as
President and CEO of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights
organization.

Mr. President, it is particularly pleasing, as was
noted, that both you and Vice President Gore have made time in your
busy schedules to join us. Our friendship over the years has been
one of mutual respect and mutual admiration, and a shared commitment
for equal opportunity and equal justice under the law for all
Americans, regardless of race, creed, religion or ethnicity.

I'm going to ask if you would indulge me that we again
salute our Vice President, who, as was introduced earlier but who I'd
like to also indicate, deserves a special salutation because of his
friendship as well. Vice President Gore. (Applause.)

To Myrlie Evers-Williams, I stand here and happily
salute you for your dedication and for your courage as my chairwoman,
my leader and my friend. You are indeed a Renaissance woman, and
ours is a team for the future. (Applause.)

To my family members who are gathered here today, and in
particular, to my sons, thank you for allowing me to be of service to
other people. When I think of the many days and the many nights that
we didn't have enough time to sit down longer and share a meal
together, or watch a good movie, or go and deal with a home
assignment, because I was out at a meeting, or speaking at an event,
or working at the office, I realize even more how much a sacrifice
each and every one of you made in sharing your Dad with everyone
else.

Donald, Kevin, Keith, Michael, and Ronald, who is taking
an examination at this hour, you all are the love of my life.
(Applause.) You are the reason that it has all been worthwhile. And
if God chose to give me nothing else in life, the five of you
represent a gift for which I will be forever grateful. (Applause.)

Before I begin my formal remarks, allow me, if you
would, to thank two personal friends. One is the gentleman who
entered my life pretty much after I was orphaned and motherless and,
in many respects, fatherless, who took me in and treated me as if I
was his own child, who let me eat from his table, who found me
employment, who told me always to look straight ahead and never to
look back. He has come here from Miami, Florida -- and, Jim Sears,
would you please stand for just a moment. (Applause.)

The other person is a personal friend who also joined us
this morning. Earl Graves is the publisher of Black Enterprise
Magazine, and a fellow Morgan alumnus and, in many respects, the big
brother than I never had. His help and his wise counsel throughout
the process leading to the acceptance of this new position, in many
respects, has made today possible. And, Earl, would you please stand
for just a moment as well. (Applause.)

My thanks to all of you who gathered here for this
ceremony, and those who have meant so much over the years, those of
you who are white and Hispanic and Asian and Jew and Native American,
those of you who have come from the North and the East and the South
and the West to the Justice Department, know that we have chosen this
place carefully.

We are here today because there was a time in our
nation's history when the descendants of Africa were not allowed into
the Justice Department, when we had to learn as too many others often
knew that justice deferred was justice denied. And we come here also
because, as an organization of people believing in the possibility of
man, we will continue to insist on equal justice and equal treatment
under the law for all of America's citizens.

The NAACP is at a crucial point in its history. In
fact, and perhaps, it is at the most critical point. The focus for
rebuilding this organization must be on developing new and effective
ways of involving young people. It must focus on voter empowerment,
which has as its components voter registration, voter education and
then voter participation. It must focus in these new days anew on
educational excellence and individual responsibility. And it must
create an infrastructure for economic and social parity for all of
America's people.

And so there is much work to be done and, indeed, the
time for such work is now. The NAACP will reclaim its voice as the
rightful place of African Americans and others who believe in the
power and the premise that all people are, in fact, created equal.
We will accomplish this by reinvigorating the age-old concept of
coalition building, where people work together for the common good
and values become the centerpiece of our lives.

The task ahead is significant. The extreme,
ultra-conservative policies of the far right wing in our nation are
draconian, they are punitive and they are backward. They are
policies that punish the elderly, restrict the poor and deny
opportunity to our children. Those policies must be countered with
effective and realistic responses that reflect our need as a society
for inclusion and for tolerance.

Similarly, policies borne out of the guilt or the
misdirected compassion of the ultra left that seek as their sole
objective the maintenance of the poor are equally punitive and just
as backward. If we have learned nothing else over the last 30 years
it is, in fact, that the poor must not be maintained, they must be
transformed. (Applause.)

Part of that transformation must also lie in the
importance that we place on individual talent, individual achievement
and individual responsibility -- and also, the importance that we
place on families. As President of the NAACP I commit to you that
racism and sexism and anti-Semitism will not be allowed to enjoy a
comfortable and quiet acceptance. Bigotry, whether black or white,
will be deemed as unacceptable and indefensible. The damaging
divisions brought on xenophobia will not be allowed to color our
thinking about those who come to our shores in search of a better
life. Discrimination and intolerance of other Americans because of
their religion or orientation will not find comfort. Fear, which
often finds its incubator in our refusal to stand up for what is
right, will forever be challenged by a new NAACP, reunited and
reinvigorated, standing at the threshold of change. (Applause.)

Clearly, the job before us will not be easy. There are
new obstacles, and new problems that in their existence create new
diversions. Red-lining in black and Hispanic communities that deny
hard-working people the right to buy a home because they are judged
not by their credit record, but because of their zip code, cannot be
allowed to continue. Child abuse, drug abuse, which run rampant too
often in too many communities, must be confronted. Access to capital
and credit, the greatest imperative to minority economic business
development, must be talked about and thought about on a national
level so that we make national change. Despair and cynicism in the
eyes of young people because they feel they are not included and
their ideas don't count can't be allowed to take hold.

The time is also now for this organization,
understanding then new obstacles and the new diversions, to right
itself on a course that will ensure its future. So the time is now
to restore the financial, spiritual and political health of this
historic American institution. Financially, we need your help and we
need your support. Dollars are needed immediately to help us end the
red ink and to become soluble again. Today I am asking at this
podium and from this juncture that all who care about the need for an
NAACP that will bring people together and heal the divisions in our
society to take out new membership or to renew an old membership.
And for those who can do more, I ask that you donate to us in
whatever amount you can. But make no mistake about it: I have said,
and I will continue to say, there will be change. It will be swift,
it will be focused and it will be constructive.

Efficiency and fiscal integrity within our organization
will not be a concept. It will be, as Mrs. Evers-Williams has noted,
a way of life, a reality. The time is now also for a new generation
to step forward and to join the NAACP. While maturity and experience
are valued, we must also learn to cherish youth. (Applause.) I have
said and will reiterate today that it is the development of such
youth which will continue to be my overwhelming priority. The
development and reinvigoration of our branches and our college
chapters will be among my highest priorities. Failing to develop
roles and responsibilities for our young people will certainly ensure
our failure later on.

Our branches, throughout this country 2,200 strong, are
the lifeblood of this organization. When times got tough and friends
got few, they never lost the faith. They continue to work in their
communities and in their churches, to carry forth the historic
mission of the NAACP. They continue to find us new members, and they
challenge all of us to find new hope.

Those branches are important, but how they operate is
even more important. So I say to all of you who are working across
this country in NAACP branches, understand your own reality. Many of
our branches are on the threshold of generational change. You must
not resist it. You must embrace it. (Applause.) Just as others of
a previous generation once embraced us, we must make room for the
young. We must allow for new blood and for new ideas to become a
part of our development. Young people in our communities want to be
involved, but they want to be involved in real and meaningful ways.

So I challenge you then in our branches across this
nation to go out and to find them, to recruit their energies and
their talents, to give them real roles and real responsibilities, and
at the end of the day, to hold them accountable as you should and as
you must. It is out of dedicated actions such as that that we ensure
our collective relevancy as an organization.

The NAACP has a proud history, filled with major
accomplishments, as you heard, that have changed America forever.
The lives of citizens who are black and white and Asian and Hispanic
and Latino and Native American have been made better because of it.
And yet out country still, in many respects, is in desperate need.
The choice many of us face today is whether to stand by and to watch
in the comfort of our own circumstance, or to step forward and dare
to get involved.

In his renowned chronology of the NAACP, looking at just
the period of 1909 to 1920, Charles Kellogg began his historical work
with this observation -- and I quote. He said "In the first decade
of the 20th century, few voices were raised in defense of the Negro
and of his rights as a citizen of the United States. Reactionary
attitudes about race had been strengthened. And by 1909, the civil
rights gain during Reconstruction had been severely limited. The
prevailing attitudes toward the Negro were reflected," he said, "in
the sensational press, in the hate literature, in the periodicals of
the intellectuals in court decisions reinterpreting the 14th and 15th
Amendment," and he said, "in the legislature."

Eighty-seven years later, in the last decade of the same
century, few voices are again being raised in defense of African
Americans and their rights as citizens of the United States.
Reactionary attitudes about race, regrettably, continue to be
strengthened. Civil rights gained during the second Reconstruction
have also been severely limited. And the prevailing attitudes toward
minorities are still reflected in the sensational press, in the hate
literature and in the periodicals of the intellectuals, as well as in
the decisions of the courts.

Only a strong, revitalized and focused NAACP can accept
then the realities that were present in the first decade and readjust
to the challenges still present in the last decade of this century.
And so, then, it is in the interest of all people that we succeed in
creating a new hope, a new opportunity, a new dignity, a new horizon,
a new chance for each and every American.

I ask that all who care about what's fair and decent in
this nation join me under this banner to begin that journey for
change. Thank you very much. (Applause.)